Róisín Murphy – Ten Miles High

0Shares

God might be dead but this goddess is alive, kicking and on a roll. It’s been a productive period for Irish icon and emblem of flawlessness Róisín Murphy. One year after the wonderful “Hairless Toys”, she is ready to give birth again, this time to a little mutant creature, “Take Her Up to Monto”, which was recorded during the same sessions of its predecessor. The album will be out in the summer but if you’re in an impatient mood, new single “Ten Miles High” is here to ease the wait.

A seamless patchwork of textures, melodies and synths, “Ten Miles High” sees a bittersweet Róisín crooning ambiguous words of what could be death or ecstasy over an eclectic soundscape of twinkly, deep and industrial tones. Uncanny and proud to be, inadvertently luxurious, it possesses the curious charm of chic things misplaced in the right spot.

The video for the song was directed by Miss Murphy herself. Shot on location in a London looking like a building site for a sci-fi movie set, it’s a testament to Róisín’s ability to turn the common and mundane in hypercool gold like a hipster Queen Midas. Through her touch, the most basic mirror effect transforms grey urban views into gorgeously weird glass-and-steel landscapes. They’re the perfect background for Róisín to serve different kinds of city realness in the great tradition of “Paris Is Burning“, whose spirit is all over the video: executive, a businesswoman of the Eighties who doesn’t want romance without finance, and avant-garde construction worker. She’s like Margaret Thatcher and a trade union leader at the same time, but with better clothes and definitely more chill.

“Take Her Up to Monto” is out July 8th via Play It Again Sam. Pre-order it here and get “Ten Miles High” and the equally fantastic “Mastermind“.